What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

I feel like such a bad mommy. DS is 10 months old and getting his 7th and 8th teeth in at the same time. We gave him Tylenol last night for the pain and he (thank goodness) had no fever. He woke up screaming after having slept for around 5 hours. We let him cry for about 5 minutes hoping he'd just go back to sleep. When this was obviously not going to happen, we gave him more Tylenol since it was probably the pain again. I rocked him for about 10 minutes which quieted him down but the second I put him down he started crying again. My husband then rocked him for 10 minutes, after which the same thing happened. At this point, I knew he just needed the Tylenol to kick in to feel better. What would you have done? Rocked him or put him back in the crib and let him cry until the Tylenol kicked in? I chose putting him back in and letting him cry. I feel like when he sees me at night and then I leave it is almost more upsetting to him than if I never went in. Yet I felt HORRIBLE letting him cry those last 10 minutes. Teething stinks!

So if you made it this far, what do you do when your child is crying at night from teething? Rock them or let them cry?

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

My 10 month old is going through this with his 9-12 teeth this week. (all in the side middles). It looks sooo painful. he's woken up SCREAMING at 2:30 every night the past 4 nights.

I take him into bed with us. It seems to help. He usually stays there til he falls asleep again, then if we can, we transfer him back to his crib.

We're all exhausted over here.

BTW, what type of tylenol are you using? We're using Target Motrin now, which lasts longer than Tylenol (6-8 hours). That might help a bit.

I read never to CIO when teething, so for now, we're just not sleeping.

Message edited 5/10/2010 6:58:03 PM.

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

I would never let DS cry if I knew it was bc of teething. I have let DS cry if he is just waking for what I think is no reason though

If he is teething we give Motrin with a bottle of milk and wait for it to kick in a bit till he is ready to sleep

ETS motrin works so much better than tylenol, maybe you can try that?

Message edited 5/10/2010 7:10:38 PM.

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

I don't know why, but I feel like Motrin doesn't really work on DS when he is teething. It makes no sense to me, but Tylenol really works when he is teething. It just takes about 1/2 hour to kick in. Generic of course!! I just feel like when he sees me at night and then I leave it is sooooo upsetting to him. I just don't know if that is worse than just letting him cry waiting for the meds to kick in. Also, I can only rock him standing up (if I sit, he tries to crawl off my lap) and he weighs 22 lbs. It is so hard to hold him for more than 15 minutes at a time. Maybe I"ll try just holding him tonight though anyway. I just don't know.

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

hard to tell...my DS does this occasionally. it is so difficult to tell but i usually do the tylenol and hold/comfort him for a while til it seems to pass. yes, he always cries when we put him back in but it lasts less than 20 minutes and he crashes. i feel awful, terrible, horrible. i want to die the entire time but i know that 1. he won't remember this ever and 2. it does neither of us any good to start bad habits or interfere with him falling back to sleep in his crib. you just have to go with your gut. it might be easier for me to do this b.c this is my 2nd child and i went through it with DD.

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

We are going through similar but DS is only 8 months old. The past 3 nights he would wake up screaming after being so comfy...We tried repeatedly to put DS back in his crib after rocking him back to sleep to only wind up with him waking again. So for the past 3 nights, he has slept with us...Both DH & I are exhausted, so this is the only solution since he will sleep soundly when he is with us

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

I would comfort him but that is just me....I could not let him cry waiting for the meds kick in as he is in pain right? I hope he gets those teeth soon and you can get some sleep

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

DD is almost 14 months old and gets up 2-3 times a night due to her teeth. There are no meds that work for her. I do not let her cry. I take her out of her crib comfort her, get her to go back to sleep and then I put her back in her crib.

Re: What do you do when they are teething and crying at night?

Posted by beachgirl

I would comfort him but that is just me....I could not let him cry waiting for the meds kick in as he is in pain right? I hope he gets those teeth soon and you can get some sleep